A review on Pakistani drama TV series, Raqeeb Se – Episode 20 (2021). The new TV series is directed by Kashif Nisar and is a production of Momina Duraid Productions. Raqeeb Se is a HUM TV Production.
(Note: If you’ve already read the review of the previous episode, you can skip directly ahead to the High points section).
+ Crew
- Directed by Kashif Nisar
- Written by Beegul
- DOP by Hassam Mairaj
- Music Composed by Hadiqa Kiani
- Produced by Momina Duraid Productions
+ Note
Raqeeb Se is the newest HUM TV Production and is once again the collaboration of the award winning Writer/ Director duo of Bee Gul and Kashif Nisar.
The title of the show is heavily inspired by a poem from the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz when the young poet fell in love with a girl next door in Sialkot. But alas, as luck would have it, she one day unexpectedly left the city, only to be reunited years later when Faiz was already an established poet in the circles of Urdu literature. This encounter inspired Faiz to write a poem “Raqib Se!”. The backstory of this poem plays a crucial role in the premise of the show.
+ Main Cast
- Hadiqa Kiani as Sakina
- Noman Ijaz as Maqsood
- Sania Saeed as Hajra
- Faryal Mehmood as Insha
- Iqra Aziz as Ameera
- Saqib Sameer as Rafiq
+ Plot
Raqeeb Se is a call of Maqsood’s dark past that could potentially destroy his present life. In order to escape her abusive husband, Sakina, along with her daughter Ameera, flees from her village to find shelter at her former lover’s place, Maqsood. Unfortunately Maqsood, who still holds a grudge against Sakina’s past actions, refuses to aid her in her most dire situation. But his wife, Hajra, seems much more sympathetic to the situation and lets Sakina stay at their home till things are figured out for the future.
But can Sakina be trusted to stay out of Maqsood’s life or will they be tempted to rekindle their lost love and in the process, destroy what Maqsood and his wife Hajra have built together?
+ High Points
i – The relationship between Insha and Abdul is going through turbulence of sorts. It’s hard to say exactly where this turn of events are heading but I’m nonetheless intrigued.
ii – Probably sounds a tad bit awkward to say this but it was very satisfying to see Hajira show a bit of aggression and frustration in this episode. Throughout the show, she has mostly been stoic and calm so it was gratifying to see a different side of Hajira’s personality.
iii – For once, Ameera was calm and collected in this episode. Iqra Aziz got to display some good, dramatic performance and in turn, shows a class of character maturity and development. This is the character progression that Raqeeb Se badly needs for the rest of the cast as well.
+ Low Points
i – Earlier in the episode, Masood asks his younger brother out of frustration: “What do you want?”
I think Masood is acting as a composite for the viewers to the writer of the show. Since the past few episodes, Raqeeb Se has lost its sense of direction and is just meandering in Purgatory. 20 Episodes in and the show has no overarching conflict to overcome. The conflicts that are already present are not dramatic enough for the audience to tune in every week for it. Sakina’s fate can easily be resolved since Maqsood wants to keep her in his house and Hajira wants them to get married so she can “repay” Maqsood for marrying her. So what crucial, overbearing problem is there to be solved?
When it comes to storytelling, Raqeeb Se is a drag to watch.
ii – The scene with Kashif and her sassy Punjabi mom was a complete waste of time. Granted it wasn’t really time consuming but why have such moments where nothing is being really said other than the show fulfilling its 1 hour episode mark?
iii – SPOILER ALERT!!! (If you would like to avoid it, please skip to Overall section).
So the big revelation of Episode 20 was that Ameera has admitted to her mother (and everyone else) that she has fallen in love with Maqsood…. Um, was that not obvious? She didn’t exactly hide her emotions before. Her body language and gestures (even her dialogue) made it pretty clear that she at least has a crush on Maqsood sahib. In this scenario, only Insha was the one who was not utterly shocked by this revelation (and arguably the most sensible of the bunch). This was such a lazy, mundane technique to deliver some tension and drama into the show.
+ Overall
Episode 20 was, at times, entertaining to watch (due to some good performances) but the big revelation really fell flat on its face.
Rate: 2.75 out of 5 stars
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